Scientists investigate Gippsland's quakes

In a grassy paddock in the hills of West Gippsland, two researchers fossick around a small pen as nearby cows watch and chew grass. Gary Gibson, a seismologist and Dan Sandiford, an honours student from the University of Melbourne are checking a seismograph they have buried in a plastic drum in the middle of the pen.

As Dan struggles off the lid of the buried plastic container, Gary plugs a USB stick into this laptop to check the data they've recorded.

"The first waves arrived at 05,43 and 12.66 seconds and the big one arrives two and a half seconds later," Gary says.

They are pleased the seismograph has recorded the data from a recent earthquake because due to poor weather, the location of earthquakes and other interferences with equipment, the researchers sometimes miss them.

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle where we start off with very few pieces and we're not quite sure what the picture is but the supply of jigsaw elements is so slow it's sometimes very frustrating," Gary says.

They are trying to piece together information about Gippsland's earthquakes because it has become something of a seismic hotspot in recent years.

Before 2009 in the Strzelecki Ranges there were only 50 earthquakes recorded, since then 700 tremors have been picked up.

"The motion in Gippsland here, the rate of earthquake activity is high, the geology suggests that the average over the last few million years is probably even higher," Gary says.

Dan Sandiford spent the last year researching the connection between Gippsland's fault lines and the recent seismic activity.

"The question really was, are those faults still active? Are the earthquakes that are happening and have been recorded here in the modern era related to those faults? And the study suggested that those earthquakes did happen on faults and those faults are some of the largest ones which are known in the area," Dan says.

The seismograph the researchers are checking on this occasion is one of eight placed across Gippsland.

One of the challenges in recording the much needed data on the earthquakes is finding a place to put seismographs.

The instruments are so sensitive they pick up even the footsteps of the researchers as they check the readings on the machines.

Seismographs have to be placed on solid rock that sometimes runs metres below the surface and more often than not, on private property.

Fortunately there are farmers like Neville Cliff who are enthusiastic about having the equipment on their land.

"It makes me feel really important. How many farmers have got a seismograph? People tell me how many cattle they've got and how many acres they've got and I say 'well have you got a seismograph?'," laughs Neville.

The researchers hope the data they record in Gippsland will help inform future building practises.

"One of the problems about living in an inactive area is firstly that your building standards don't take serious consideration of the type of earthquake that is going to affect us. The way you try and avoid problems with earthquakes is you don't want any buildings to collapse under any circumstances so they have to be designed to withstand it," Gary Gibson says.